


Do You Take This Leash

by crazygirlne



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Veterinarian AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's a successful CEO with no free time. He's a struggling veterinarian with too much free time. They're brought together by a dog. Fluffiness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do You Take This Leash

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so…. I read a summary of one of the kdramas on my Netflix list, and it mentioned a successful CEO and a struggling veterinarian being brought together by a golden retriever, and I just had to write this.
> 
> I know it’s a little confused on location… Mostly Americanisms, but they’re still British. This is almost exclusively fluff. Don’t let Rose put you off in the first couple chapters. Also! It’s early S1 Mickey, not later Mickey, who has a minor, off-screen role in this, so he’s not the awesome man he becomes relatively quickly.

 

By the time Rose reaches the veterinary clinic, she’s more than a little frazzled. Her hair, which had started in such a perfectly tight bun, is flying into her face with the wind, and her sensible, black pencil skirt is covered in long, golden hair from the dog who is leaning into her as they walk into the building.

Inside, the waiting room is empty, save for the man standing behind the counter, the man whose soft, blue eyes look at her, surprised, before his face shutters. She stops in her tracks, the door nearly hitting her as it closes, and the dog looks up at her in clear question. It takes Rose only a moment to compose herself—she has to deal with much more imposing men in the boardroom, after all, and she’s not sure why he threw her off in the first place—and then she marches to the counter, heels clacking on the floor in odd counterpoint to the dog’s nails.

“There’s something wrong with the dog,” she tells the man, who merely raises an eyebrow in response. Rose huffs and shoves a bit of hair off her face. “Can I get it looked at here or not?”

“ _It_?” he asks, and his eyebrows are almost comically high now. “What’s wrong with _it_ , exactly?” He moves around the counter and kneels slowly in front of the dog, waiting for some unseen signal before petting it. Rose realizes a few things in quick succession: she’s blushing at the censure in his voice; he’s probably the veterinarian, not the secretary or whatever the person at the desk is called; and he’s ridiculously attractive when he lets his guard down, concern and affection both clear as he attends to the dog.

“Look, my assistant brought the dog in thinking we could use it in an advertisement or something. I’ve never met it before today, and Mickey didn’t know its name, so I don’t know if it’s a he or a she.” She looks down at the animal in question, and she feels some of the anger drain, to be replaced by the concern that drove her here in the first place. “It started making a sound like maybe it was hurt, and it wouldn’t let anyone else take it, so here I am.”

And she left the afternoon’s meetings in the capable hands of her second-in-command, Sarah Jane, in order to leave on such short notice, too, something she’d never done before.

The vet looks up at her appraisingly, and only years of practice let her avoid shifting under the scrutiny. He pets the dog once more before standing, putting him more at her eye level. “Can you tell me more about what made you think he was hurt, Miss…”

“Rose. Rose Tyler.” Her response is almost automatic as she processes. The dog is a he. The man doesn’t seem terribly concerned, isn’t rushing them into an exam room or surgery or anything, so the dog must not be as bad off as she’d worried he was. “You’re the doctor?” she confirms before continuing, frowning at the spark of amusement she sees in his eyes.

“I am the vet, yes, but you can call me Doctor, if you’d like.”

There’s nothing lewd or inappropriate in his expression, just that bit of amusement, so she takes him at face value.

“Okay, _Doctor_ ,” she says, just a hint of emphasis to make sure he knows that Rose is aware that it’s probably not his normal title. “He was just… He was crying, you know? He stopped doing it on the way here.” She looks back at the dog, who’s sitting at her feet and leaning against her, looking up at her with deep, brown eyes and an open mouth, tongue lolling out in what looks more than anything like a contented smile. “Seems fine now, too.” Her lips pull downward again.

“He’s a big dog. Needs a lot of exercise. You work in an office, I’m guessing?” At her nod, he continues. “Strange place, strange people, nowhere clearly his, any dog’s gonna be a little bit restless. Add in the breed, and he probably just needed a good walk with someone he likes.”

“He’s gonna be okay, then?”

At the concern in her tone, his face softens, and it’s like she’s looking at a totally different person. “Yeah, think so. While you’ve got him here, though, why don’t we take him into an exam room and give him a once-over?”

She nods again, and she and the dog follow him to a small, clean room. The Doctor, as she can’t help but think of him now, sits on a stool rather than lifting the dog up to the high exam table, and he runs his hands methodically over the dog, his touch gentle but firm.

“You said your assistant brought him in?” he asks. “Do you know who he belongs to?”

“Not really.” Rose frowns, trying to remember exactly what Mickey had said about the dog. She’d been distracted, focused work as always, with too many meetings and phone calls and emails planned to spare much thought for her assistant’s latest stunt.

He was fine, he really was, and she knew he meant well, but he had a little growing up to do. He made her feel old, even though they were about the same age.

“He said someone was giving the dog away, and he thought it might help the advertisement the company is filming today. He didn’t think about the fact we can’t rewrite anything at this point. Paid enough money to get the script we’ve already got.”

“Think the dog’s probably yours then. Doesn’t sound like Ricky could handle it.” The Doctor is smirking.

It’s no wonder the place is deserted. This man with his mercurial moods must be enough to throw anyone off. Then again, it’s taken almost no time to see how much the man cares, and despite her initial hesitation in the doorway, fearing him now seems laughable.

“Mickey,” she corrects, without as much heat as she intends. “I’ve known him forever. He’s a good guy, and he could handle it if he had to.” Of course, she knows he’d rather be down at the pub with his mates than watching after a dog. But Rose can’t have a _dog_.

Can she?

The Doctor seems to see the debate on her face. “Never really been around animals, have you?”

“No,” Rose answers. The Doctor gestures to a seat against the wall, and Rose takes it gratefully. She hadn’t chosen footwear expecting to walk a mile on the city’s rough sidewalks. “Mum never wanted any, and Dad got me the job right out of school, and then…” She trails off. She never shares this much with anyone. Mickey knows everything, but that’s because he’s been around since they were both kids. Sarah Jane could be a good friend, but… “I’ve never had time. First, I had to prove that I could handle the job, yeah? That Dad didn’t just give it to me ‘cause we were related. Then he retired to spend more time with Mum, and I had even less time, you know?”

The dog wanders over to her, putting his head in her lap and staring up at her happily. Rose smiles and starts petting him.

“Haven’t even had a date in months. Don’t think I’ve got time for a dog.” She hears the regret in her own voice, and she looks up to see the Doctor watching her speculatively.

“Doesn’t seem like there was a problem having him at work with you today, right? Not as far as the people you work with were concerned, at any rate.”

She shakes her head. “No. Was only a problem when people tried to take him away from me. He didn’t try to bite or anything, he just… He looked so sad. Everyone seemed to like him, though. And nobody’s allergic.”

“Alright. Not trying to talk you into a pet you don’t want or have time for. That’s never a good idea. But if you can keep bringing him to work, you don’t have to worry about him getting lonely. Do you have time for a walk in the morning and at night? What about on your lunch break?”

Rose nods slowly. She normally goes to the gym in the mornings, but she could go for a walk instead. At night, she likes a walk after dinner, anyway, except on the nights she gets home too late. Maybe on those, she can ask Mickey to take the dog out. They’ll get used to each other eventually, right?

“Alright. What about your home? He needs some space.”

She nods again, more readily this time. Her house is big, much bigger than she needs, and the backyard is pretty nice, too. She often looks at it, wondering how she ended up alone. It’s definitely a house rather than a home. The dog that’s half in her lap is grinning up at her again, and she makes a decision.

“Okay, say I do this. Say I keep the dog. What do I need to get for him?”

The Doctor smiles, really smiles, and Rose has to blink at the unexpected rush of affection and attraction for this person she doesn’t even know. “Well, you might want to get his name first, if you can,” he tells her.

“Hold on,” Rose says, pulling out her phone and sending Mickey a quick text. _I’m keeping the dog. What was his name?_

 _K-9_ , comes the quick response, and suddenly it’s all too much: the dog, taking off work, meeting the Doctor, deciding to keep the dog.

Rose starts laughing, too hard to talk when the Doctor asks if she’s alright. Instead, she lets him see the text, and he chuckles, a deep, warm sound she already knows she’d like to hear more often.

“I’m sorry,” she says finally. “I know it’s not that funny. K-9,” she says, using his name for the first time, and the dog licks her before staring up at her adoringly once more. She pets his head again, more confidently this time, and she can almost feel the Doctor’s approval.

“Now that that’s settled,” the Doctor says, standing, “you don’t really need all that much. Plenty of things you _can_ get, of course, but really, food, bowls for food and water, a bed or a crate to serve as a safe space for him, and you’re all set.”

Rose sighs, the smile still on her face. “Don’t suppose you could help me pick those out, could you?” she asks wistfully, expecting him to decline since he’s the only one here, as far as she can tell.

“I could do. Isn’t exactly busy, if you didn’t notice,” he continues when she looks surprised. “No appointments the rest of the day, and I keep my phone on me in case of emergency. There’s a pet store just a few blocks down.” Rose is still sitting, and he reaches out a hand to help her up, his voice low and careful. “Come with me. I’ll show you everything I know.”

She takes his hand and stands, and both stay that way for several long seconds. She isn’t sure, exactly, what keeps him there, but for her, it’s a sense of rightness. Their hands just feel _right_ together, and she already trusts him, and she isn’t sure what to make of any of this. She swallows and forces a smile, one that grows more genuine when he grins happily at her.

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

The Doctor locks up his office, flipping a sign on the door to one that shows his number. Somehow, she isn’t even sure how, they end up linking arms as they walk, K-9 happily trotting alongside them. The Doctor takes small steps, compensating for Rose’s high heels without her having to say anything.

In the store, K-9 seems interested in everything. There are a couple other dogs on leashes, and there’s even a cat in some sort of wheeled contraption obviously designed for the purpose, and her new dog just happily greets them all, tail wagging and ears perked up, looking back at her after every interaction as if thanking her.

She feels herself tearing up. She hadn’t wanted a dog, or hadn’t known she did, and now she’s here, and K-9 is already acting like she’s the best thing he’s ever seen, and the Doctor is holding up a dog bed while wearing this proud grin, and if anybody had told her this morning that this was where she would end her day? She’d never have believed them.

After she pulls herself together and they finish shopping, the Doctor offers to walk her back to her office to help carry the new dog supplies. She accepts easily, and she learns more about him as they walk. He answers her questions with little hesitation.

“Always liked animals, me. Humans, too, sure, but I always related better to the four-legged types. Humans just made me feel a bit alien.”

“My practice isn’t busy as I’d like, but it keeps itself afloat. Picked the location hoping the pet store would bring in some business, but then, well, they decided to hire another veterinarian to work in-house, so that backfired spectacularly.”

“I live in a blue mobile home back behind the office. Don’t make that face at me, Rose Tyler, it’s bigger than it looks.”

It seems like no time has passed before they’re standing outside the office. “Will I see you again?” Rose asks, and the Doctor’s eyes are dancing.

“If you’d like, yeah,” he says. “If you ever want me to take K-9 for a walk during the day, just let me know.”

Rose takes a breath, again reminding herself she deals with intimidating people all day, that what she wants to ask him shouldn’t be hard.

“Do you… I mean…” She lets the breath out in a huff, then tries again, the words coming out much too close together. “I’d like to see you again, and not just because of the dog, maybe for dinner or something, if that’s something you might be interested in.”

He looks surprised for only a second before he grins at her again, and she feels herself grinning back involuntarily. “Rose Tyler, I’d love to.”

~O~O~O~

Morale has never been notably low in Rose’s company; she's firm but fair, and she doesn’t dismiss her employees' wants or needs. Since she\ met the Doctor, though, and since she\ adopted K-9, the energy at the office has gotten even better. For a while, K-9 was the only animal there, but then another employee brought her dog, and then another, until finally there were enough that they made a few ground rules, mostly just making sure everyone would play nice.

As a result, everyone just seems more relaxed, and it lasts for years. Sarah Jane, in particular, absolutely adores K-9. She raves to a few well-placed friends about the Doctor’s encouragement and care, and suddenly his practice is so busy, he has to hire another vet (he works out something with the pet store and with their contractor) and a couple of vet techs.

Still, though, when Rose shows up at his office on her lunch break, K-9’s leash in one hand while the dog bounces happily at the sight of his co-owner, the Doctor finds time to come greet her. He has a little half-grin on his face, like he does when he’s happy to see her but has bad news.

“I’ve got to do a last-minute surgery, so I won’t be able to come on our afternoon walk today,” he says, leaning down, “but I needed a kiss, at least.”

Their lips touch, and Rose’s arms wrap around him. K-9 is used to this by now, leaning against the two of them contentedly rather than pulling at the leash. As they pull back, she slides her hands down to the Doctor’s chest, and he takes a second to cover her left hand with his, making Rose smile, like it always does, because it lets their wedding rings overlap.

“I’ll see you at home then, yeah?” she asks, and he nods and reaches down to pet their dog.

“I’ll see you at home, Rose.”


End file.
